Ladies Who Launch

How Someone Else Left Corporate America

by, FashionMista

Just when I thought I could quietly slip past this week's blog question, being that I work in nonprofit for the moment, I realized that I've got someone else's story up my sleeve! It involves one high powered lawyer, hot sandy beaches of Antigua, and a gorgeous and supportive husband!

Boutique owner Rebecca Doyle of ChezBec.com opened her online jewelry boutique after she'd had enough playing slave to her blackberry, when she preferred to worship all things sparkly! I interviewed her for my blog, FashionMista, and boy did she have a lot to say - in pink.

Excerpt from Conversation with ChezBec:

Talk about the part when you were a corporate lawyer lying on a beach in Antigua with your Blackberry in your hand, and you thought “To hell with corporate calls on the white sandy beaches of Antigua…”
That holiday to Antigua was a real turning point in my life for two main reasons. First and foremost, I had met the man of my dreams, the very same gorgeous man I married 8 weeks ago in a fairytale wedding, and there was no way I was going to let him slip through my fingers! Secondly, I guess I had just reached the point where I realized that there had to be more to life than working all hours that God sends in a job that was not giving me any time off or any job satisfaction. Antigua really was the holiday of a lifetime, a fabulous treat from my husband, and I resented having to work while I was there. It was a breaking point for me.

...

Eleanor Roosevelt said “Do one thing every day that scares you.” What’s been a pretty scary thing that you’ve done so far that has lead to a great success?
Setting up Chez Bec! I gave up a high-flying career as a City lawyer to set up an online jewelry business. It was, and still is, absolutely terrifying at times but I love what I do. I am a much happier person and I go to work every day to do a job I adore.

Learn more about how she did it...

Happy launching!

Fearless Launching: Nichelle Stephens

Nichelle Stephens is a member of the New York Incubator and the blog manager for the Ladies Who Launch blog.

In the spring of 2004, I had a idea.  I wanted to create an all-girl stand-up comedy show.  I am not a comedian; I am an accountant. I had never produced a comedy show, but I knew how to through a fun party.  Armed with an idea and a love of comedy, I took the Ladies Who Launch Incubator class.  Each week of the class, I moved closer to my goal because of my fellow classmates who supported with ideas, inspiration and excitemnent.  It was amazing.

To find comedians, I took a unconventional approach--I placed an ad Craigslist.  Within a few hours of posting my ad, I received about four email from females comedians eager to do my show.  At that time, I didn't even have a name for the show or a venue. One of my friends told me about a new comedy club downtown called the Laugh Lounge.  I met with the manager, and they agreed to let me do my show here.  I remember thinking that I had to "fake until I make it". I appeared  to be really professional  and savvy about the comedy world even though up until then I was mostly an audience member.

Once I had the venue, the comedians, and the support of the women from Ladies Who Launch; there was only one thing missing--a name for the show. I asked an ex-boyfriend for suggestions, but all of them were awful.  I was starting to worry because I knew how important a good name is.  The desire to go ahead was more than any fear of failure. I had to plow though.  Fortunately, one night while I was out at a happy hour, I was talking to a perfect stranger about my show and through that conversation, I came up with the name "Chicks and Giggles". The first Chicks and Giggles show was May 11, 2004 and since then it has gone from a monthly show to a weekly show at Mo Pitkins. In the process, I have a wonderful co-producer and host Carolyn Castiglia, and in two years the show has featured a talented community of over 80 performers including female comedians, musicians, humor essayists and a ventriloquist.  Next year, I  plan to book Chicks and Giggles for college shows. Chicks and Giggles is an example of fearlessness and fun come together.

Chicks and Giggles is every Tuesday at 8PM at Mo Pitkins (34 Avenue A) in New York, NY.

Fearless Launching: Lisa Kothari

This week we are asking members of Ladies Who Launch to share their stories of Fearless Launching. Lisa Kothari is the founder of a children's event planner business.

Opportunty knocks twice...walking through my fear...

I actually started Peppers and Pollywogs as a small side-line business back in 1997 in Washington, DC.  I never had the courage to make it the full-time business that it was begging me to become.  At that time, I had a very good full-time job doing very interesting work, getting paid regularly with good benefits, and working within a "stable" office environment.  More kids' parties kept coming my way, especially around this time of year, i.e. Halloween!, and I even started getting parties to plan in New York City.  There was something to the business and to what I brought to it.  Once 9/11 happened, I decided to simply take a break, leave Washington, actually leave the US for awhile.  Not only did I leave my full-time job, but also shut down Peppers and Pollywogs.

 

People asked me when I shut it down, "Would I ever do it again?"  I didn't have an answer, it just wasn't right in that time and space for me.

 

After three years of being abroad in India, Canada, and finally Australia, I returned to Seattle mid-2005.  Again, friends who had known me and my business asked if I would relaunch in Seattle, I didn't particularly say that I would.  I again put my mind to finding a full-time position in the local area, which I found within a consulting company serving the needs of local start-up companies.  Within only a few months of working there, I attended a networking event and I met my present business partner.  I casually mentioned Peppers and Pollywogs and a week later he asked is he could send me a business plan he had written while in b-school.  I said, "Sure.." and he responded, "This isn't any business plan, this is actually the business you ran in DC!"  And that is exactly what he had written.  As I reviewed his plan, I could not believe how the plan laid out not only my business, but the inefficiencies in the market, and how it could be scaled to help busy parents plan their kids' parties.  Phenomenal "A-HA Moment!"

 

Becoming Fearless: Beth Schoenfeldt

The Huffington Post approached Ladies Who Launch about doing a column on "being fearless" and right away we said yes! Not only because we admire Arianna Huffington as a fearless Lady Who Launches, but it is hard to imagine something that requires more long-term fearlessness than striking out on your own as an entrepreneur. Whether you are launching a business, creative project, or even a social life, launching requires putting yourself out there and letting the world know what you are about, and it requires investing time, money, and energy without a guaranteed result. Not only have we interviewed hundreds of women for our website, and surveyed thousands of women for our book (coming out in '07), but we have lived the fear that comes with launching. Below is my story -- and over the weeks we will be posting stories of "Fearless Launching" from women in our Ladies Who Launch Incubator Program around the country.

I remember being in college and wanting to study psychology or sociology and my well-meaning father telling me to study business . . . so I could get a job. So I did study business in undergrad, and sure enough, upon graduation, I got a really well-paying and prestigious corporate job. The only problem: I was bored out of my mind. So to escape the boring job I went to business school and after graduation took another series of well-paying and prestigious corporate jobs. Again, while I learned a lot and was lucky to have some great mentors, ultimately I saw the corporate path as frustrating and anti-creative. When I left my safe corporate job and went to work for an internet start-up, I was awakened to the world of entrepreneurship. It was a crazy environment -- to paint a picture, Sam Waksel (of the Emclone scandal) owned the company and Martha Stewart was on the Board of Directors -- but despite the craziness I loved the lack of bureaucracy and the excitement of trying to get something off the ground . . . with a potential payoff down the road. Well, to no surprise, that start-up did not go anywhere and I left when the CFO told me over drinks to "get out." I realized that I couldn't go back to the staid corporate environment trying to work myself up an endless ladder and thus started my entrepreneurial path. I knew that I needed to figure out a way to make my own decisions and create my own life, to work hard at something that I was passionate about and hopefully make at least as much money as I would have made had I stayed in Corporate America.